Coronavirus cases in S. Korea surpass 1,700 on surge with one more death in infected church followers

South Korea reported yet another record spike of new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, with most new infections identified in the hardest-hit city of Daegu as virus tests started on more than 210,000 members of a religious sect at the center of the epidemic.

Tourists from Korea wearing protective mask from Coronavirus walk with their belongings at the Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, 23 February. Source: AAP

The 505 new cases, marking the sharpest daily spike yet and outnumbering the 433 new cases reported in China, where the virus originated, earlier in the day, took the nation's total infections to 1,766, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

A 75-year-old virus patient who is tied to the religious sect in Daegu died of respiratory failure earlier Thursday, bringing the nation's death toll to 13.